


More Than a Little Patience

by Chaerring



Series: Sleeping With the Team Captains and Other Inappropriate Work Relations and Events [3]
Category: Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: Bruce is a mess, Darcy is waiting, F/M, Hulk is STILL more romantic than Bruce, Steve and Darcy are bffs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-05-24
Updated: 2012-06-07
Packaged: 2017-11-05 22:29:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/411695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaerring/pseuds/Chaerring
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Foreign Teas and Too Much Information (That isn't the Right Information)</p><p>Darcy waits on Bruce. Hulk doesn't wait. Then there are complications.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Friend In Need

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine.
> 
> THANK YOU SO MUCH! To everyone who supported me through Foreign Teas. I hope you will continue to do so through More Than a Little Patience.
> 
> Thanks especially to my amazing beta, TheGreatSporkWielder.
> 
>  
> 
> For those of you following Old Fashioned as well, this chapter comes between 1 & 2 of that fic.

Steve Rogers spent a lot of time across the road from the Avengers Tower in The Tea Shop. It was a good way keep up with current events in SHIELD and in the world. Not to mention, it was a good place for him to quickly pick up on cultural changes that couldn't be easily explained to him with words or slide shows. It was because of the amount of time he spent there that he noticed when the usual manager, a beautiful young woman who reminded him of pinup posters the boys used to pass around, wasn't in her usual place. Instead of being behind the counter shouting orders and laughing with her customers, she was in the back corner of the shop with her feet curled in a chair staring, rather morosely, he thought, into a cup of tea.

He cast a glance around for someone else who might be going to sit with her, but it was in between the early rush and the lunch time tea crowd. After a moment of hesitation he went to the chair across from her. 

"Mind if I join you?"

She looked up from where she was stirring her tea and Steve could see the way the skin under her eyes was tinged purple like she hadn't slept much. It worried him. 

"Hey, Fantastic Blond that drinks the Triple Strong super large black coffee."

Steve blinked. 

"Do you give all your customers names like that?"

"When I don't know their real names." Her lips quirked up at that. On a normal day, he bet she would have smiled.

"Steve Rogers."

He watched her head tilt as he sat down and she eyed him speculatively.

"Steve? Like Tony's Steve?"

Well, that was new to him. 

"What do you mean Tony's Steve?"

"Tony Stark comes in here all the time talking about Steve this- Steve that-"

He could feel his ears heat up. 

"I can move if you--"

"Oh no you don't, buddy. You stay right here. I've been dying to meet you. Tony's made me curious. So you're Captain America, right? That's gotta be pretty cool." 

Steve blinked and looked around uneasily, he wasn't sure if it was alright to talk to Miss Lewis. Tony might think it was okay to go around blabbing his mouth everywhere, but Steve had always preferred action to words.

"Miss Lewis, I'm not sure--"

"It's Darcy, and you're totally okay to unload on me or whatever. I tased Thor his first night on Earth, no worries, we're pals now. Tony's here all the time. Natasha hides some of her vodka from Clint in my cabinets upstairs, and I'm trying to seduce Bruce Banner. Coulson bumped my clearance up to the Avengers Initiative weeks ago." 

Steve couldn't help the way he choked a little on his coffee. 

"You _tased_ Thor?"

She grinned, bright and easy, an expression he was much more familiar with on her face.

"Oh yeah, but Jane, his girlfriend? Don't know if you've met her yet, but she hit him with the van.... _twice_."

Steve laughed out loud and without even thinking his own story was slipping out of his mouth.

"Peggy shot at me. First bullets that ever hit my shield."

He froze after he realized he'd said it. He hadn't meant to bring Peggy up. Whenever he did, people asked him questions or looked at him with pity in their eyes and he ended up spending the rest of the day in the gym trying to forget about it.

"Really? I would have thought your shield took it's first hits when you stormed the POW camp and helped all the soldiers there break out."

He raised his eyebrow at her speculation.

"No, that was before Howard made my shield, but Darcy's your name and you're trying to uh...woo Bruce Banner? You wouldn't happen to be the Hulk's Darcy would you?"

She paused for a moment raising her eyebrows in surprise, but accepted the subject change easily.

"That I am, that I am. Did you see the rose he made me? You should look on your way out. It's wrapped around the light out there."

It was Steve's turn to be surprised. The Hulk was part of his team, but the unstable part. The one piece Steve was never really sure he could direct or control. Maybe, maybe getting to know Darcy a little better would give him a way to know the Hulk a little better.

"He made that? It's beautiful."

She beamed. 

"I know, right?"

He hated to wipe the smile off her face, but she had seemed troubled when he walked in, and Steve wanted to help her. His team mate cared about her, and the way she ran her shop had been making his day brighter since he came back to New York to stay in the tower.

"Darcy, it's probably none of my business, but you looked...sad when I walked in."

To his surprise Darcy's eyes suddenly welled up with tears and she reached for a napkin. Steve immediately felt like a heel. 

"I'm sorry, Darcy! I didn't think--"

"No! No, I didn't mean to start blubbering on you. Just you're the first person to ask and jeez it's been half a week, you'd think I'd be able to stop crying."

"What happened?"

Steve was almost afraid to ask what would make a great seeming girl like Darcy cry.

"It's not really anything too awful; you don't have to worry about that. It's just Bruce."

Steve's hands tightened around his coffee cup. He definitely wasn't the person to talk to about relationship troubles.

"Did...did something happen with you and Bruce?" 

He posed the question cautiously.

"I tried to kiss him and he freaked out."

Steve opened his mouth wondering what exactly what she meant by freaked out, but she beat him to it.

"I don't mean Hulk made an appearance or anything like that! Just, it was like I _scared_ him or something and I don't understand. He ran away. I tried to kiss him and he _ran away_. I mean, I thought he liked me. He brought me a huge flower!"

Steve nodded along with her for a moment and then took a drink of his coffee trying to think of something helpful or at least reassuring that he could say. 

"I think...you're right. At least, I think you did scare him. I'm not an expert by any means, but I know Dr. Banner's had a hard time of it, and with the Hulk in his head....He thinks a lot about other people about keeping them safe."

Darcy nodded, dry eyed once more and Steve felt like he might have helped a little when she gave him a small smile.

"He does, but it's okay. I know Hulk likes me, at least, so I've won half the battle. I can wait a little bit to win the other half."

Steve smiled and settled in to finish his coffee as she launched into a wild recount of the first time she had met the Hulk. He'd heard the official report and Tony's recount, but Darcy's story was much more interesting. He was glad he'd gone to sit with her.


	2. It's Not Easy Being Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce gets a gift, and Tony gives him a shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: None of the characters or music is mine.
> 
> This chapter may be edited and re-posted later. TheGreatSporkWielder's internet went out, but I didn't want to leave you guys without an update tonight. I'm going to packing tomorrow and in a car for the majority of the weekend and may not be able to get you chapters. Therefore, you get an unbeta'd one before I disappear into road trip hell on Saturday.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone already leaving comments and kudos!

Bruce frowned into the sudden silence of his lab and paused the simulation he was running to cast his eyes towards the ceiling.

"Start it up again, JARVIS?"

"Certainly, sir. You've played it seven times since receiving Miss Lewis's email. Shall I put it on repeat for you?"

"Would that include her commentary?"

"If you would like it to." 

Bruce considered briefly the pros and cons of having Darcy's voice at sudden intervals while he was working.

"Sure, go ahead and do that. I won't have to keep bothering you."

He restarted the simulation again as her voice came over the speaker.

_Chill and relax, Doc. This part is..._

At first Bruce hadn't known what to think of the email sitting in his inbox. The subject had seemed fairly nonthreatening, but a bad experience in college had taught him even the most nonthreatening overtures could hide horrible consequences. Not that he expected Darcy to be a vindictive harpy who let all of his beakers dry with a coating of salt in them, but he knew he hadn't displayed his finest qualities when he took off across the street and left her standing outside The Tea Shop a week ago. Therefore, he was more than a little surprised to find that she was giving him a gift in return for the flower that The Other Guy had made. _Hulk_ , he tried to mentally correct himself. It was the only concession he had made to Darcy's impassioned defense of his alter ego. He didn't believe it when Hulk seemed ever so slightly more agreeable when he began to do so. Bruce was still trying to figure out whether it was because he listened to Darcy, or because Hulk didn't like being referred to as The Other Guy in the first place. 

The gift itself, the playlist was surprising. He hadn't known Darcy was so in to music, or that she had such varied tastes in it. In five songs she had ranged from the sixties to present day and captured a fairly wide range of sounds at the same time. He felt a little like a coward, but he had heeded her warning and hadn't done anything more with the second file than download it. As curious as he was, he already knew he couldn't handle her idea of impatience, so he contented himself with the first five tracks and her commentary on them. 

The doors to his lab slid open and he raised his head to find Tony strolling in.

"What's that playing?"

There was a pause and Bruce winced as he realized he had lost himself in his thoughts for the first song to be caught off guard by the second. He thought Kermit the Frog's "It's not Easy Being Green" was a nice little tune, but Tony was the last person he wanted to catch him listening to it.

"Bruce, _no_ , that's not-- _Kermit?_ "

The physicist flinched and resigned himself to his fate at the hands of his friend.

" _It's Not Easy Being Green?_ Really, Bruce I thought you were more subtler minded than that."

Feeling the need to justify himself just a little, Bruce spoke up.

"Darcy made me a playlist."

It was only after he said it that he realized that was exactly the sort of fodder he had wanted to _not_ give Tony. He was practically hanging himself by accident.

"Darcy did, eh? And you're listening to it? Have you _seen_ that girl's ipod? It's like the hit lists of the past eighty years threw up in and and decided to bring along the rest of their albums too."

"No, I haven't seen it."

"Didn't think so, but you're listening to it. Do you like it?" 

Bruce watched Tony head for his main computer screen warily.

"Yeah. It's good."

"Well, you've been traveling in third world countries for years so I can't really count on your music tastes. Let me see...."

Tony pulled up the media window and scanned the song titles.

"Not bad. Would be bad but the fact that it's the Muppets saves it. Horrible, but I bet that one's your favorite. Classic, and oh look, Pepper likes that last band. The singer's pretty talented. But- what's this? Side B why didn't you put that on there too? I'll just-"

Bruce lunged forward and smacked the touch screen's close button removing the _Stop Sign Roses_ file from Tony's grasp. He wasn't going to share it. Not now when he couldn't even bring himself to open it alone. It was private and his. Even if he was inclined to share _which he wasn't_ and probably wouldn't ever be, Bruce doubted Darcy would like whatever she had put in there for him flaunted all over the Avengers Tower.

" _No._ I don't think so."

He turned his head sideways and absently began tinkering with one of the smaller, still opened screens to keep from looking at Tony's face. The man saw way more than he let on and kept his mouth shut about it, but only until he wanted to prove a point. Bruce knew there were several points Tony had been trying to prove to him and he wasn't going to give away any more fodder than he already had.

"Why haven't you opened it?"

Bruce kept his eyes averted even when Tony moved around the console to get a better look at him.

"There was a warning attached and I'm listening to it."

"Does this have anything to do with the way you ran away when she tried to kiss you?"

"She told you that?" 

Bruce hated the obvious distress in his voice.

"No. She told Steve, and only because he asked her why she looked kind of down a few days ago. I happened to hear Steve asking Pepper if he'd told her the right thing in response, and checked the security cameras from the road and the shop. It looked pretty bad. Not that I blame you, she's a pretty determined and intimidating girl and you haven't dated in a while. It's understandable to freak out a little."

Tony's tone was mild and far less condescending than Bruce would have expected for a conversation of this nature. It made him suspicious, but taking a risk Bruce went for the bait.

"And what did Steve tell her?"

"From what I gathered, not very much. He just reminded her that you'd been out of the game for a while for reason beyond your control, and that you're a worry wart. Not his exact words, of course."

"Of course. Now, why are you really here, Tony? You bother me regularly, I know, but you're not generally this gentle about it."

Normally, he would have expected Tony to go straight for a roundabout way to look at Side B of his playlist. The whole visit stunk of something else.

"What? No, no. I'm just here to check on you! It's been a while since you've left your lab besides eating and sleeping. We've noticed!"

"We, meaning Coulson noticed, right?"

"Hey! The rest of us did too!"

"Uh huh."

"Okay, so maybe he noticed first, but to be fair I've been in the workshop almost as long as you've been in the lab, barring a couple of meals here and there."

Bruce considered his options momentarily. Judging by the way Pepper got Tony to do anything, and the gaping looks he gave some of the things Steve said the best way to knock Tony off kilter was to be or do something unexpected. The problem was figuring out what he wouldn't expect. No one had been able to figure out how Tony's brain worked, so Bruce figured Pepper's success was simply from knowing him so long. For the first time ever, but probably not the last, Bruce found himself asking: _What would Pepper Potts do in his situation?_

The answer he came up with was more than a little surprising to him.

"You know what, Tony? I'm going to get some tea. I haven't seen Darcy in a week and she's probably not as mad at me now, seeing as she sent the playlist today, so I'm going to go see her."

With purposeful movements, Bruce took off his lab coat and folded it over a chair reaching for the drawer where he had stashed his wallet that morning.

"No! You can't go over there right now!"

 _Aha,_ Bruce thought. It worked. He had caught Tony off guard.

"Why not?"

"They are...Darcy closed it up!"

For such and accomplished business man and play boy, Tony was actually turning out to be horrible at providing believable excuses of his cuff.

"Why?"

"Because there was an incident!"

Bruce felt his heart rate kick up a notch and the Hulk, who had been unusually quiet in the face of Darcy's playlist, sit up and pay attention.

"What sort of incident? Is she okay?"

Tony swallowed and avoided looking Bruce in the face.

"She's fine, really, just a little angry. Or rather, a lot angry, from the last bit of it I heard, but really you should just stay here and not worry about it because Coulson and Fury are all over it and I was just supposed to keep you from hearing about it until it was fixed. Which should be soon."

That wasn't making Bruce feel better at all. If anything the fact that Tony was being so evasive was only making him worry more. He still had complete control of his anger, of the Hulk, but the other presence was prominent and pressing on his mind listening as closely as he was.

" _Tony._ "

He didn't mean for his voice to come from his chest and rumble, but when he saw Tony cave he decided it was an acceptable slip up.

"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you! Did you just make your eyes light up like Christmas bulbs on purpose? But seriously, Bruce you have to promise me you'll stay in the Tower. We can't-- _really can't_ , allow you or the green guy to get involved in this one. It would just make it worse, and Darcy might get hurt."

Tony's worry wasn't helping Bruce push the Hulk back down, but he wouldn't risk Darcy's safety.

"Fine! I promise."

"General Ross walking into The Tea shop about fifteen minutes ago."

The Hulk _roared_ in the forefront of his mind and Bruce staggered sideways trying to keep his breathing even as he gripped his work table.


	3. Visitors in the Tea Shop (again)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy is decidedly not waiting on a reply email from Bruce when Natasha comes through the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. (Not even the new hire)
> 
> Thanks to TheGreatSporkWielder for beta-ing!
> 
> And thank you so much to everyone who is leaving kudos and comments!

Darcy was decidedly not checking her empty inbox again for a reply about the playlist she had sent Bruce, when the door to The Tea Shop chimed and Natasha Romanov swept in, looking even more intense than she had the day Hulk brought Darcy the flower. Darcy wasn't sure she wanted to know what made the Black Widow more worried than the Hulk, but she had a feeling from the way the older woman zoomed in on her behind the counter that she was about to find out. 

"Tell me you're here to get your vodka and get drunk; because I'm waiting on an email and really don't need any dramatic shit to go down today."

Natasha's lips twitched.

"Sorry, Darcy. We've got a problem coming."

Darcy glanced around the shop at her new hire, a high school waiter, Peter, leaning against the wall, on his phone, and the handful of customers spread between the inner and outer tables.

"Do I need to evacuate the place?"

The spy's red curls bounced as she shook her head quickly. 

"No. In fact, the more witnesses the better, and the less likely something will happen. I need you to not ask questions until I get to the end of what I'm going to tell you. Can you do that?"

On any other day, Darcy would smart off and claim holding her tongue was impossible, but the tension in Natasha's body was something that had made even silly Peter put down his phone, so Darcy simply nodded.

"Good. In three minutes, General Thaddeus Ross is going to walk through the door of your tea shop."

Icy rage rushed through Darcy's veins and she wanted nothing more than to get her taser out from under the counter and flick it up to it's highest setting. Ross was part of the reason, _a lot_ of the reason, from what Darcy had gathered, that Bruce was so worried about getting close to people.

"You are not a SHIELD agent. You're only a civilian employee. It means we can't protect you as much as we should be able to. Coulson is going to be rectifying your status as soon as he can, but it takes time that we don't have at the moment. This means that you can't say anything. Do you understand? You're not Darcy Lewis, the girl who tased Thor and lived to tell about it, or Darcy Lewis, the girl the Hulk gives flowers to. For right now, you're Darcy Lewis, ditzy, big breasted, tea shop manager, who hasn't been able to complete a college degree."

Darcy's nose wrinkled up at the way Natasha described her as the redhead levered herself gracefully over the counter and shoved things to the sides until she could fit herself into a small space completely hidden from the customers.

"I'm going to hide under here and hold your ankle. I'll squeeze when you're getting suspicious sounding, too catty, or angry. I don't think it will happen, but if I let go of your ankle entirely, the Director and Coulson have found some loophole to protect you and you can have at the bastard all you want....as long as you don't tase him. Can you handle this or do I need to deliver you to Clint, who is waiting on the roof to help you become a fugitive?"

Finally unable to hold her tongue any longer, Darcy sputtered.

"Fugitive?! What the hell?! No! I can play dumb just fine, even to a jackass like Ross. I can handle it, Nat. If I can handle assholes talking at my chest and propositioning at parties in college, I can handle an asshole general."

Natasha took her at her word and left Darcy to her job, except for one strong, soft hand around the bare skin of her ankle, for the remaining half minute it took for the buzz cut, combat boot wearing shadow to appear in her shop’s doorway. She really wished she had an idea of when her life became such a cliche that she had real life _bad guys_ actually _darkening her door._ She suddenly felt like her ipod should have been playing instrumental country music with a bare bones band and that she should be slinging shots of whiskey and mugs of cerveza instead of tea and coffee.

Instead of drawing her taser and telling him to 'stick 'em up', Darcy smiled brightly and dumbly, going back to the days when she used to do sorority impressions.

"Welcome to The Tea Shop! What can I get for you, sir?"

Darcy was hard pressed not to let her smile falter. The man was wearing his camouflage ACUs, for crying out loud. He stared down at her like she was either an unfortunate idiot or some sort of new species of mold he'd never encountered.

"A large of your strongest coffee. Black."

It was easier to keep her smile up after that. Her strongest coffee that day was _Steve's_ coffee. His coffee was something she only gave him and, on rare, overtime occasions, SHIELD agents like Coulson whose veins were nothing but caffeine anyway at that point. The stuff was the blackest of black, an old recipe Steve had requested from his days with the Howling Commandos. Apparently, once you had _horrible_ coffee and got used to it, it was hard to go back to the sweet stuff. She was extremely gratified to see the way her triple strong made the old general cough.

"Well, that's certainly...strong. Almost like old battle joe."

Darcy grinned as she went through the cash register motions and passed him his change. He didn't get points in his favor when he ignored her brightly colored tips jar.

"What a coincidence, ; I got the recipe from an old soldier."

She hoped Steve could forgive her for calling him old. He was gorgeous anyway.

"Is that so?" 

She watched him shift his coffee to his other hand and felt Natasha's index finger tap a warning on her ankle.

"Unfortunately, Miss Lewis, I'm not here to discuss the merits of black coffee or even to get a coffee at all."

Darcy tilted her head to the side and put on her best I-have-no-clue-what-you're-talking-about-Jane.-This-is-beyond-me look.

"No? How do you know my name? And what are you here to discuss, if not coffee or tea?"

From seemingly nowhere he produced a file folder, ; actually, it was from under his arm, but damned if Darcy had noticed it there. She'd been much more worried about his face than his elbows. He pulled two photos from it and laid them on her counter.

"I'm here to talk to you about this man, Bruce Banner, and the monster known as The Hulk."


	4. A Temper is Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For once it's not Bruce losing his temper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine! 
> 
> Thanks so much to TheGreatSporkWielder for helping me hammer this chapter out!
> 
> Thanks so much to everyone leaving comments and kudos for me to roll in! 
> 
> Okay, I feel really bad about the cliffhanger, guys. I meant to have this chapter up last night before I left on my trip, but General Ross is a dick even when it comes to letting me characterize him so that didn't work out, but here it is now! We got to the overnight place quicker than I ever imagined we would so you get updates!

Darcy felt Natasha's hand tighten on her ankle in a warning as she looked down at the photos. The pictures weren't very good. The photo of Bruce was almost like a mugshot, and Darcy hated the way even the lighting of the photo seemed to accuse him of horrible things. The second picture was worse than the first. It was a shot of Hulk, obviously taken from a distance with a zoom lens. The quality sucked. She could have done better with her phone. The green guy was roaring, and generally looking more menacing than she had ever seen him, but considering she could clearly see multiple tanks pointing their guns at him she didn't exactly blame him.

"That's the Doc. Why'd you come to talk to me about him?"

The general hadn't even given Bruce the courtesy of his title. Darcy hadn't finished a full degree in one subject. She couldn't imagine the type of dedication and work it took to accomplish a doctorate in a specific subject, but this man wouldn't even give Bruce that credit.

"Word has it you're rather close to Banner, Miss Lewis."

Darcy grinned and tilted her head to the side.

"Word? Whose word?"

She wished it was Bruce's word, but that was definitely not who Ross had heard it from Darcy knew.

"We have photographs of you with both Banner and the monster."

Natasha's hand gripped her ankle tightly, as though she knew Darcy was about to bitchslap the general until he could manage to say Hulk and not have it sound like the thing he'd been scared of under his bed when he was little.

"Doc likes to come in for tea."

"And the monster? We have proof of him carrying you through New York."

If Darcy hadn't been expecting it, how tight Natasha gripped her, nails nearly digging into her skin would have made her jump. As it was, she knew she'd have bruises later that night.

"He helped me save a pregnant woman."

She kept her tone light and happy, as though it had simply been a walk in the park to track him down and bandage Alice up. 

"Look, sir, I still don't understand what you want from me."

She ignored the way Natasha's nails did begin digging into her skin. 

"Don't you, though?" 

He pulled a third photo from the folder and placed it in front of her. It was a picture of her hugging Hulk, her flower hanging from his hand. Darcy felt nausea roll through her stomach. Couldn't they leave Bruce alone? Leave Hulk alone? He hadn't done anything wrong that day. He'd done something sweet, wonderful, and kind. That rose never failed to put a smile on her face when she saw it while walking in and out of her shop every day. It made Darcy sick, but even more than that, it enraged her.

"Where did you get that photo?"

"The one of you cuddling up to the abomination, Miss Lewis? That wasn't very hard to come by. I'm trying to help you, Miss Lewis. I've been acquainted with Bruce Banner far longer than you have. The Hulk put my daughter in the hospital and has killed or maimed over 75 of my soldiers. He's a menace that needs to be stopped _at all costs_. I'm sorry for whatever misconceptions you might have of him at this point, but you need to face the facts and realize you're fraternizing with a dangerous monster."

Darcy was only peripherally aware of Natasha's other hand snaking out so that she was being restrained by both ankles, like Black Widow shackles. If she could have, she would have made a joke. Something about Black Widow shackles being the most versatile, durable, and fashionable all at the same time. As it was Darcy could hardly focus through her supreme outrage. Who the _fuck_ did this man think he was coming into her shop, showing her pictures of private moments, and then believing she was enough of a bitch to turn on Bruce like that? Even if she had been mad at Bruce, which she honestly wasn't, she would never have handed him over to this megalomaniac.

Then, miraculously, Natasha's bruising grip disappeared from her ankles.

She summoned herself up to her (admittedly short) full height and glared.

" _You son of a bitch._ You think just because I'm young and potentially easily intimidated that I'm going to hand you _Doctor_ Bruce Banner on a silver platter? Well, you've got another think coming, _sir._ He is a _good_ man. Which is more than I can say for you, you old bastard. You came in to my place of work to accost me about a private relationship that is _none of your goddamned business_. As for Hulk, you leave him the fuck alone, too! He's a hero! He's helped save countless lives and he's a sweetheart, just like Bruce when you're not pointing all your big-ass over compensating guns at him! Aggression escalates aggression, you asshole. You'd think for as long as you've been in the fucking military you'd know that by now, but apparently you were sleeping that day."

Darcy could feel her chest heaving with her outrage and she knew her face was getting all splotched red and ugly, but she couldn't help it.

"Young lady, you don't understand what you're getting into. That monster derailed my daughter's life even after she was injured--"

She raised her eyebrow at him. If the sudden personal insertion and the general's face were anything to go by, Bruce had been friends, or maybe more than friends, with his daughter. She'd have to ask sometime when she wasn't being too forward.

"Hell if I know who your daughter is. I'm terribly sorry she got hurt and I hope she made a full and quick recovery, but fuck that. I bet _you_ were the one to derail her life afterwards in a sorry attempt to get her to hand over Bruce."

Darcy never got to hear Ross's response because her shop door chimed and Director Fury walked in. 

"Pour me a cup of that joe, Darcy, and then you need to hightail your ass across the street. Banner's almost in the lobby. Stark failed to distract him from our unexpected guest. You, General, are out of your jurisdiction by a mile and harassing a civilian." 

Feeling a little like she was about to be the rope in tug-of-war, Darcy, for once, did as she was told and went to make Fury a cup. It helped that Peter held the pot and poured into the cup for her. She would have made a mess with the way her hands were shaking.

"Fury--" 

Ross was interrupted once again as someone Darcy recognized as a loose-mouthed intern came bursting in the door. 

"Dr. Banner's trying to leave the lobby, sir. He doesn't look so good, but we're not sure whether to---" 

The whole room turned incredulously to Ross at the sound of radio static.

"The Hulk is making an appearance, gentlemen. Roll in, I repeat, roll in."

Fury's face was promising the seventh circle of hell to the intern and Darcy would have felt sorry for him if he hadn't just made the biggest fucking mistake of his life. Instead, she was ready to throttle the little shit herself as Fury began barking orders to Natasha, who was somehow already moving out the door.

"Five squads _at least_ , Romanov!"

"Yes, sir."

Darcy couldn't help but feel like New York, and then the world, was going to hell in a hand basket if these were the supposed combat specialists trying to keep everyone safe. Since she had obviously been relegated to completely unimportant in the face of a possible Hulk sighting and the army rolling in to take him on in the middle of the day in a civilian area she decided to remind people whose tea shop they were in. 

It was almost too easy to take her taser from its hiding place, round the counter and fire directly at General Ross's ass. She caught the radio from his hand when he began to spasm and pressed the button to talk.

"Alright, you assholes. I've just tased your General. You are going to roll your camouflaged asses out of New York City, or I will continue to tase him until he's forgotten all about Hulk and is lucky if he can write his own na--"

She glared up at Director Fury as he plucked the radio from her hand.

"I'd suggest you boys do what the lady told you to. Women don't take kindly to their boyfriends being shot at."

Silence reigned in the The Tea Shop for a moment, only broken when the radio started up again.

"Roger that. Retreat in progress."

Darcy fist pumped.


	5. Darcy Softer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy spends some quality time with Hulk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine.
> 
> Thanks to TheGreatSporkWielder for beta-ing.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone leaving comments and kudos!
> 
> NOTICE: A Bruce/Darcy and Hulk/Darcy chatroom is being established on AIM. It's called ElectricGreen Come and join us!

Remembering that her success was only over the general and his goons and that Director Fury had given her an order before everything went to hell, Darcy ran for the door, ignoring the rather foreboding tone Fury took with her only waiter. 

"Mr. Parker. We need to talk."

Darcy almost turned back, but she kept going instead. Peter was almost a grown man; he could handle Fury for just a little bit. Coulson would probably tell her she was an awful manager, throwing the only employee depending on her on the mercy of their entire head of organization, but Darcy was much more concerned about getting to Bruce. Even from across the street she can see the way his hunched form is fighting itself. She forgot to look both ways before she crossed the street, but luckily, SHIELD is already rerouting the traffic for the block around the Avengers Tower. 

His head snaps up to watch her as she approaches and there's nothing of the scientist left in his face. Every bit of what she could see was Hulk crammed into Bruce's form. Then he's growing, faster than she'd ever seen before, practically exploding out of his skin and becoming an even brighter green than he had been when they'd saved Alice. Darcy stared, and Hulk roared loudly enough to make her stumble backwards. He picked up a parked car, Pepper's it looked like, maybe, and threw it over Darcy's head down the road like it was nothing more than a Hot Wheels toy. 

Darcy flinched at the loud crash behind her and for the first time, watching Hulk lift another car with ease, she felt afraid. Not afraid that he would hurt her, because she knew he wouldn't do so on purpose, but she could finally see what he might do unintentionally, what Bruce was so terrified of. That didn't stop her from finishing her approach, though.

"Hey! Hulk!"

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but it wasn't for him to scoop her up in both arms and hunker down in the middle of the street encasing her in the mountain of green muscle that was his body. She could feel the ripple of motion every time he turned his head sharply, watching the surrounding area. She pressed her hands flatly against his bare skin and watched how deeply his chest seized when he breathed. 

"Hey, are you listening to me, big guy?"

She took his grunt as a yes.

"What's got you so spooked? What's wrong?"

She had to fight the urge to cover her ears when he roared his response.

**"Ross!"**

On a whim, Darcy pressed a kiss to his chest wrinkling her nose when the hair there tickled her nose.

"No need to worry. I tased his ass. Smashed him, you could say."

She felt him shift, and then his head appeared in her line of vision.

**"Darcy small and soft. Darcy no smash."**

She snorted.

"Oh yeah? I've got proof."

From his return snort it was obvious he didn't believe she did.

"Put me down and I'll show you." 

His chest rumbled a negative sound and she sighed in exasperation. 

"I told you, I got him. How about if I hold your hand or something? Will that get you to put me down so I can show you?"

He grunted reluctantly, but Darcy felt his arms begin to move and her feet hit the ground. He kept one large hand pressed gingerly against her back as though he was prepared to snatch her out of harm.

**"Darcy small hands."**

"Yeah, yeah, I know. C'mon."

She tugged him across the street until they were back at the entrance of The Tea Shop just in time to see a SHIELD medical team carrying General Ross out on a stretcher.

"Ha! See? I got him good."

Hulk leaned forward looming over the medical team as they walked by. Darcy had to give them props for the way their faces stayed blank and they didn't flinch at his proximity.

**"Darcy smashed Ross?"**

She wasn't sure if he was disbelieving or admiring, but she liked his tone.

"I tased him. There's a difference, but I guess, not too much of one."

Hulk nodded.

**"Darcy strong."**

She watched his lips crack in a smile and beamed up at his approval. She wanted to do something with him. Get him away from SHIELD and the area where Ross's men were probably still lurking about. It only took her a few moments to come up with a plan.

"Okay, big guy. I'm going to take the rest of the day off and you're going to jump us to Central Park for the rest of your visit. How's that sound?"

After a moment of consideration, he nodded and Darcy patted his arm.

"Let me go give Peter his directions for the rest of the day."

She smiled at Hulk reassuringly and ducked into The Tea Shop.

"Peter? You still here? Fury didn't scare you off?"

Her waiter's tousled brown hair popped up from behind the counter.

"Still here! I think I might have gotten a raise."

"Awesome. I need to take off with Hulk for the rest of the day, so you're going to have to handle the shop. Just ask people to tell you what's in their special orders and if anyone else comes in for soldier joe, only Steve Rogers, Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, and Natasha Romanov can have that until I get back. And everyone but Steve gets cut off after two cups. Fury's had his first. Someone comes in asking for it, you check their IDs. I'm serious. I've had health issues with over-working SHIELD agents trying to keep themselves going on that stuff. Coulson's the one you have to watch out for the most. Got it?"

Peter nodded, raising his eyebrow at something behind her. She turned just in time to see Hulk's head snap away from peering in the shop window. She laughed as Peter responded.

"I've got it! No problems, Boss. You head out with your boyfriend and have fun."

"Roger that. You know where the spare key is. Lock up and take it with you when you go. I'll see your tomorrow Peter, thanks for everything and keeping your cool today."

"See you tomorrow."

She grabbed her purse from its hiding place and returned his farewell wave before heading back out into the street. Once Darcy was back outside standing in front of Hulk she lifted her arms and grinned when he scooped her right up into his arms. 

**"Park?"**

"Yep, let's go, Hulk."

He took two bounding steps away from her shop, into the street, and then leaped into the air. Instead of being surprised, this time Darcy was prepared and she whooped as they reached the peak of his jump and began to fall back to the green ground of Central Park. She saw some people scatter when they landed, but thankfully no one screamed and she was able to point him under a shady tree for them to sit. He settled to the ground with her still in his arms and then gently placed her between her legs with her back to him. Darcy took the cue and leaned back with a happy little sigh.

"This is nice. I didn't think I'd get to see you again so soon, and it's only been a week. The way you ran off last time....I thought you might not like me anymore."

**"Hulk not run. Banner run."**

Darcy wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah, I know, but you're the same at the heart of it."

He gave a great big huff behind her and she almost laughed. His attitude about her words only proved her point even further. They settled in to the calm and quiet of the park for a while and Darcy was just about to doze off against his chest when he rumbled again.

**"Ross hurt Darcy?"**

She expected the steely threat beneath his words, but she wasn't expecting the careful searching way he curved his body forward around hers and gently touched the tiny red cuts Natasha's nails had left on her ankles. She turned her head sideways to look at his face bent next to her and pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth.

"No, Hulk. Ross didn't do that. I'm okay."

He turned to look at her solemnly and she grinned at him. Finally, he sighed and leaned back against the tree gently pulling her back against his chest tighter.

**"Darcy soft and small. Even if she smashed."**

She felt his hand pass over her hair.

**"Easy to break. Like Betty."**

At that Darcy couldn't stop herself from twisting around in his lap planting and planting her knees on his thighs.

"Betty Ross, you mean. That asshole general mentioned her. You liked her?"

His shoulders heaved in a shrug.

**"Banner."**

Darcy nodded.

"She was Bruce's girlfriend."

**"Betty soft. Darcy softer."**

She laughed. 

"I do have a bit more padding than the average woman."

He shook his head and gently prodded her side.

**"Darcy softer touch, yes, but..."**

His face wrinkled up in frustration as Darcy watched and she raised her hands to it, running her fingers over the wrinkles on his forehead.

"Hey, it's okay. I know you were paying me a compliment, not making fun."

He shook his head slowly, not dislodging her hands.

**"Betty brave. Scared. Friends with Hulk anyway. Darcy..."**

He leaned in close to her face.

**"Darcy not scared. No need brave."**

Then he pulled back and little and she could see his teeth when he grinned.

**"Plus Darcy kisses."**

She laughed and leaned up to kiss the corner of his lips again.

"You like kisses?"

He raised an eyebrow at her.

**"No. Hulk _love_ kisses."**

She laughed again and threw her arms around his neck squeezing him tightly.

"I hear what you did there, big guy. Same thing I did with the rose you gave me. It's still up in front of the shop, you saw it, right?"

She felt him nod that he had and pulled back smoothing her hands down his shoulders.

"I tell all my customers about it."

He grinned and she watched his cheeks get a little greener.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate formatting errors. I fixed that damn thing five times and it still came out wrong the first time.


	6. In the Park (still)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce comes to a conclusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.
> 
> Thanks to TheGreatSporkWielder for beta-ing and being generally awesome about everything.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has left kudos or comments for me! I really appreciate it, and this would never still be going if I wasn't getting feedback.
> 
> I sincerely apologize for the length of time between updates. I will try my best not to make it so long next time.

Bruce woke up with a warm weight in his arms. Given Hulk's recent patterns of behavior, he shouldn't have been surprised to feel Darcy's soft breaths stirring the hair on his bare chest, but he was anyway. Realizing it probably wasn't the best moment to be distracted, even by the beauty of her relaxed face, he lifted his gaze to the surrounding area. There were no signs of SHIELD or Ross's people in any direction. Of course, that didn't mean much, when it came to SHIELD, but Bruce could handle that as long as he couldn't see or hear helicopters and tanks heading in their direction. 

Carefully, to not trigger Hulk again, Bruce tried to reexamine the events leading up to their nap in the park. He was in the lab, working to the sound of the playlist she had sent him and then Tony had come in utterly failing to convince him that something wasn't wrong. Then the engineer had cracked and revealed that Ross was in The Tea Shop. Surprisingly, Hulk didn't rear his head at the thought of the general. Bruce only got a sense of pride and smugness from his greener side. That worried him and forced him to decide to wake Darcy up sooner rather than later. 

Bruce didn't want to wake her up. He knew she kept odd hours running The Tea Shop, to match SHIELD emergencies, and that she didn't have much help a lot of the time. This close he could see the way her light make up didn't cover the dark circles under her eyes. With a sigh, he gently brushed her long hair behind her ear and watched her face just a moment longer. He didn't like to abuse anyone's fear of him and Hulk, but he would wield it against SHIELD if it would get Darcy another employee or two to help her out. It was something to consider later, after he'd found out about what exactly Hulk had done that afternoon.

"Darcy."

A little wrinkle appeared on her forehead and she tucked her head further into his neck. He could feel her nose pressed against his clavicle. It was highly distracting. He tried again.

"Darcy, wake up."

She huffed a little and her fingers pressed into the skin of his stomach, addling his mind a little further, but she was using him as leverage to sit up a little and lift her head. Her hair was a long and loose around her shoulders and her v-cut shirt was ever so slightly crooked. Just enough that he could see the bright _green_ peek of her bra. 

"Unghn. What is it?"

Bruce swallowed and carefully kept his eyes on her face. That turned out to be worse for him than looking at her clothing. Darcy's eyes were half lidded and she was smiling slightly at him, like she didn't mind that she was waking up to see him. Her fingers hadn't moved from his stomach and she was still sitting in his lap. She must have seen something in his face because she blinked and her smile shrank a tad.

"Bruce?"

He wanted to make her smile again, but even more than that he wanted to lean forward and kiss the still sleepy half smile on her lips. He hesitated, just a moment, before he brought his hand up to cup her cheek and leaned in. Afraid of her reaction, he closed his eyes just before their lips met. Her lips were soft and warm against his. Bruce pressed only slightly forward waiting, but he didn't have to wait long before he felt her hand stroke upward from his stomach to stop on his neck and hold him in place. Darcy's mouth moved without hesitation as she kissed him back. He drew back after a moment, but she didn't let him go far. Her hand pressed gently at his shoulder holding him in place as she laid her forehead against his.

"That was a lovely way to wake up."

Bruce felt his heart swell a little in his chest and his mouth stretch in a grin. He didn't realize how afraid he had been. It was one thing for her to attempt to kiss him on the street where there were witnesses and she was the one taking the initiative, but here, in Central Park he was guessing, with the hour stretching later in the evening, there was no one to see. She hadn't been the one to try for the contact. He had kissed her first and she had let him. Darcy had kissed him back while sitting in his lap with no trace of worry or fear in her expression. He'd been worried the entire time about her fearing him, but in reality, _he'd_ been the one who was afraid; fearing _her_ , and her ability to hurt him, perhaps even more than fearing any harm he might cause her.

"Thank you. Can I have another?"

Her voice startled him out of his thoughts and his cheeks burned while her mouth spread saucily, but he was still comfortable enough to brush his thumb over the corner of her grin.

" _Darcy._ "

She laughed without restraint and the sound made him grin back at her.

"I knew you were a tease."

"I'm a wha-"

She leaned forward and pecked his nose with her lips, surprising him into silence.

"I'm messing with you, Bruce. Now, what made you interrupt my comfortable nap?"

Darcy shifted slightly on his lap to lean against his shoulder and Bruce tried to gather his thoughts back to the topic at hand. The way her hair brushed against his arm and the warm weight of her against him wasn't helping with that.

"What happened? I know I was leaving the tower and then..."

"Oh! Right, I always forget you don't know what goes on after Hulk makes his appearance. Well, you don't have to worry. I took care of Ross before you got to him so--"

Bruce had to cut her off. He wasn't sure what she meant, and nothing he was envisioning in his mind was comforting him at all.

"What do you mean you took care of him?"

He got an uneasy feeling at the glinting look in her eyes.

"I tased that old bastard's ass."


End file.
